UK democratic system - criticisms

Hey, just been making some bullets on this question. Its worth 30 marks but I don't know how much material is required to get that. Would this be enough? What other points could be added?

In what ways has the UK democratic system been criticised? (30)

- UK democratic system has an unproportional electoral system
- Minorities are under represented in Parliament e.g. Lib Dems
- Most politicians are white middle class men, although New Labour sought to change this with the Blair Babes. Ten years on it appears they failed.
- Two party system encourages adversarial politics
- Encourages polarisation of party policy
- Forces parties out to opposite ends of the ideological spectrum in order to attract voters
- In 1997 Conservatives gained more votes in England than New Labour but lost due to the division of constituencies - FPTP is flawed
- Increasing rise of 'career' politicians who ignore constituents wishes, undermining representative democracy
- New Labour promised more referenda but has not delivered.
- Parliament is not an effective check on the Executive because of the Whip system, therefore undermining democracy
- West Lothian question poses the democratic deficit present in our system as a result of 1998 Devolution Act.
- Lord Hailsham criticised electoral system as "elective dictatorship" due to domination of single party over number of years and the fact that the electorate only get a vote once every four or five years.
- Parties cynically use policies as vote winners then abandon them e.g. New Labour promising not to introduce tuition fees then acting against their manifesto once elected.

Thanks!

Reply 1

liamb

More than enough. Organise your answer, find some examples to back them up and cross reference. Finally do point out somewhere that the UK is still one of the most democratic states in the world (see the Economist Intellienge Unit in Dec 2006). According to it, the UK's biggest failing is low turnout (which is why it is one place below Greece). However, very good isn't perfect and so your essay aims to show where there is room for improvement.